Some organizations (e.g., police departments, first responders, and the like) use portable communications devices, such as land mobile radios (LMRs), to facilitate communication between the organization's members. These organizations often place members in different departments and assign members certain roles. Also, an organization may assign members to different communication groups (sometimes referred to as “talkgroups”) to streamline communication. In particular, to send a communication to a group of members, a member may send a single communication to an assigned talkgroup rather than sending a communication to individual members.
An organization may have several talkgroups, and these talkgroups need to be pre-programmed and updated as needed into a portable communications device. Once a portable communications device is programmed with talkgroup information, a member may select a talkgroup (e.g., using a selector on the portable communications device) and initiate a communication (e.g., a push-to-talk communication) with the selected talkgroup.
In many organizations, members and/or portable communications devices may be moved and assigned to different departments of the organization. In other situations, a member may be participating in multiple missions for multiple departments. These departments and missions commonly have different talkgroups. However, a member does not have the option to select a list of talkgroups based on the mission or department the member is participating in. Instead, when a member switches missions, departments, or roles, the member's portable communications device needs to be reprogrammed with the applicable talkgroup information.
Accordingly, there is a need for improved methods and systems for selecting a talkgroup for a portable communications device.
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The apparatus and method components have been represented where appropriate by conventional symbols in the drawings, showing only those specific details that are pertinent to understanding the embodiments of the present invention so as not to obscure the disclosure with details that will be readily apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art having the benefit of the description herein.